Shovel control



Aug. 11, 1953 E, R, WINDAHL 2,648,231

SHOVEL CONTROL Filed May 26, 1947 I5 Sheets-Sheet l lll Aug. 1l, 1953 E. R. wlNDAHl.

sHovEL CONTROL 5 sheets-sheet 2' Filed May 26. 1947 JY ,f 46 40 (294, Q36 3.9 .5.

Allg- 11 1953 E. R. wlNDAHl. 2,648,231

SHOVEL CONTROL Filed May 26. 1947 I5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented ug. 11', 1,953

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

(Granted under The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a control for the operation of power shovel equipment and allied attachments.

One of the objects of this invention is to combine the operation of two hand levers for a power shovel into one, thus introducing more eflicient operation of the machine.

Another object of this invention is to minimize the number of motions which an operator must perform in the operation of the machine, thus reducing operator fatigue.

I-Ieretofore, an operator of a power shovel, or any of its attachments, had a minimum of three hand levers (swing, crowd-retract and bucket hoist) to operate continuously, and, at times simultaneously, to control the machine. It can be readily seen that it was necessary for him to distribute the working of the three hand levers between his two hands. This resulted in operator fatigue plus the fact that, whenever it was necessary to operate the three hand levers simultaneously, the operators timing could not be absolutely correct because of the necessity of moving his hands from one control to another.

This invention incorporates the operation of the hoist lever and the crowd-retract lever on o existing machines into a single operating lever and is so designed that the action of hoisting or crowding or retracting the bucket can be performed separately or the crowd or retract can be operated simultaneously with the hoist. This latter feature is especially desirable for excavation with a power shovel in blasted rock where considerable manipulation is necessary to load the rock in the bucket.

With the above and other objects and advantages in view, the invention consists of certain features of construction and operation f parts which will hereinafter be described and shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a power shovel with the proposed control shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is a detailed plan view of the invention with the existing controls and linkage shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the invention with the existing controls and linkage in dotted lines;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the control linkage;

Title 35, U. S. Code (1952),

sec. 266) Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a detailed sectional view taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line I-'I of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 8 is a detailed sectional View of the control lever pivot.

.The invention may be applied to any shovel similar to the shovel I9 shown in the drawings. The shovel may have a regulation shovel boom I I or it may be set up with any of the aforementioned attachments. In addition to being suitable for a shovel mounted on Caterpillar type tracks I2 the invention can also be used on shovels mounted on trucks, barges, walking floats or stationary mounting.

The combination control hand lever I3 is mounted in the customary control bank adjacent the swing control lever I4. The engine I5 provides power for the machine, and the power is supplied to the hoist drum I6 and crowd drum I'I by means of band type friction clutches (not shown).

The combination control hand lever I3 has a disc shaped pivot I9 which pivots freely in an annularly recessed seat 20. The pivot I9 is held snugly into the pivot seat 20 by spring "2|, cap

22 and housing 23 which screws on outer part of.

pivot seat 20. Reach rod 24 is connected to the lower end of control lever I3 by a ball and socket joint 25.

Reach rod 24 is pin-connected at 29 to bellcrank arm 30. Bellcrank arm 3l is pin-connected at 32 to reach rod 33 which is pin-connected to hoist clutch shifter yoke 34 which operates the hoist clutch I8.

For the crowd and retract linkage connections the lower end of control lever I3 works freely in slotted section 35 of swivel bellcrank 36, The slotted section 35 is loosely riveted by pin 51 to Vallow rotary motion between the slotted section 35 and the main bellcrank 36. This rotation will be about the longitudinal axis of the pin 51. The purpose of this swivel action is to permit the slotted faces 58 of the bellcrank to remain parallel at all times to the surface of the lower part of lever I3. Bellcrank 36 pivots about shaft 31. Bellcrank arm 38 is pin-connected at 39 to reach rod 49 which is pin-connected at 4I to bellcrank arm 42. Bellcrank arms 42 and 43 are parts of the same bellcrank which pivots about pin 44.` The aforementioned bellcrank arms 30 and 3| also pivot about the same pin 44.

Bellcrank arm 43 is vpin-connected at 45 .to'

reach rod 4E. Reach rod 46 is pin-connected at 41 to lever arm 48 which is keyed to shifter shaft 49. Cam actuator 50 is keyed to shifter shaft 49. Cam roller 5| works in the slot of crowd shifter cam 52 which is fastened to the crowd shifter yoke 53. Cam roller 54 works in the slot of retract shifter cam 55 which is fastened to the retract shifter yoke 56.

For operation, the operator will maintain constant positional control of the machine by holding swing control lever I4 in his left hand at all times, The operators right hand will be free to operate the combination control lever I3. To hoist the bucket the lever I3 is pulled back (move top of lever I3 to left in Fig. 3) which pivots at 20 moving reach rod 24 forwardly. This action rotates bellcrank lever arms 3D and 3I counterclockwise and pushes reach rod 33 which operates yoke 34. Yoke 34 pivots about pin 58 and operates hoist clutch I8`which operates hoist drum I6. Hoist drum I6 winds up hoist cable 60 and raises bucket 6I.

To operate the crowd motion, the top of lever I3 is moved to operators left (toward top of drawing Fig. 2). This action pivots lower part of lever I3 about pivot I9 and rotates bellcrank 36 clockwise. Through reach rod 40 bellcrank arms 42 and 43 rotate clockwise. Reach rod 45 then rotates clutch cam actuator 59 counterclockwise through lever arm 48 and shifter shaft 49. Cam roller 5I moves cam 52 which rotates shifter yoke 53 counterclockwise which actuates crowd clutch 62 which, by means of roller chains and sprockets within the mechanism of the machine, crowds (pushes out) bucket 5I into the bank.

To retract bucket BI, the top of lever 3 is moved to the operators right, that is to say, toward the bottom of the sheet. This rotates bellcrank 36 counterclockwise which, through reach rod 40, bellcrank arms 42 and 43, reach rod 4S, lever 48, shifter shaft 49, cam actuator 50, cam roller 54, and cam 55 rotates to retract clutch yoke 56 clockwise and engages the retract clutch which is located on the same shaft as the hoist clutch I8. By means of chains and sprockets Within the mechanism of the machine, bucket 6I is retracted (hauled back toward the machine).

It is easily seen that, by moving lever I3 back and either to one side or the other, it is possible to hoist and crowd or to hoist and retract simultaneously.

It should be understood that the various bellcranks can be reversed in the linkage connections to operate the various motions, hoist, crowd and retract by moving the lever in directions other than those designated in this description. For example, the linkage can be arranged so that, when the operator pushes lever I3 forward, he hoists the bucket. Or it may be desirable on certain machines to have the crowd and retract operate by pushing lever I3 forward or pulling backward and hoist by moving lever I3 sideways. The exact directional selection depends on the machine to which the control is being adapted.

It should be further noted that there are four separate directions for the lever I3 to move and actuate a clutch. In this description only three of the directions have been used, thus leaving one directional motion of the lever I3 open to which it is very simple to connect any other desirable independent auxiliary motion on the machine.

It will thus be seen that there has herein been provided a novel and efficient form of shovel combination control which is well adapted for the purpose indicated. Even though there has been shown and described the invention as comprising certain features of construction and operation of parts, it is nevertheless to be understood that various changes may be made therein, if the changes do not depart from the spirit or scope of the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and wish to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A dual purpose control mechanism comprising a hanger rigidly attached to a supporting member, a control lever operatively mounted for universal movement relative to a vertical position in which it is normally disposed, a bellcrank swivelly suspended from the hanger to rotate in a horizontal plane about a stationary axis extending in parallelism with the longitudinal axis of said control lever when the latter is in its normal position, said bellcrank including a pair of arms one of which is longitudinally slotted to engage the control lever, second and third pivotally mounted bellcranks each having a pair of arms, a reach rod pivotally connected at one end to an arm of the second bellcrank and at its other end with the free arm of the first bellcrank and a second reach rod pivotally connected at one end with an arm of the third bellcrank and at its other end directly with the control lever.

2. For use in a power excavating machine of the type wherein the bucket is controlled for crowding, retracting and hoisting movements by drum and clutch instrumentalities actuated by a hoist yoke and by a crowding and retracting linkage mechanism, a dual purpose control mechanism comprising a hanger rigidly attached to a supporting member, a control lever operatively mounted for universal movement relative to a vertical position in which the control lever is normally disposed, a bellcrank swivelly suspended from the hanger and rotatable in a horizontal plane about an axis extending in parallelism with the longitudinal axis of the control lever when the latter is normally disposed, said bellcrank having a pair of arms one of which is longitudinally slotted to engage the control lever, second and third pivotally mounted bellcranks, each having a pair of arms, a reach rod pivotally connected at one end to an arm of the second bellcrank and at its other end with the free arm of the first bellcrank, a second reach rod pivotally connected at one end with an arm of the third bellcrank and at its other end directly with the control lever, the free arm of the second bell-crank being adapted to be connected to the crowding and retracting mechanism, the free arm of the third bellcrank being adapted to be connected to the hoist yoke whereby actuation of said lever lengthwise of and within the slotted bellcrank arm is adapted to operate the hoist yoke and movement of said lever in other than in said lengthwise direction within the bellcrank arm actuates said bellcrank arm through contact with said lever to operate the crowding and retracting linkage mechanism.

3. A dual purpose control mechanism comprising a hanger rigidly attached to a supporting member, a control lever operatively mounted for universal movement relative to a vertical position in which it is normally disposed, a bellcrank swivelly suspended from the hanger to rotate in a horizontal plane about a stationary hanger extending in parallelism with the longitudinal axis of said control lever when the latter is in its normal position, said bellcrank including a pair of arms one of which is rotatable about its longitudinal axis and longitudinally slotted to engage the lower end of the control lever extending through said slot, second and third pivotally mounted bellcranks each having a pair of arms, a rea-ch rod pvotally connected at one end to an arm of the second bellcrank and at its other end with the free arm of the rst bellcrank and a second reach rod pivotally connected at one end with an arm of the third bellcrank and at its other end directly with the control lever.

EVERETT R. WINDAHL.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Turner May 23, 1905 Torbrand Sept. 20, 1910 Turner Oct. 11, 1910 Armstrong Oct. 13, 1925 Martinuzzi Sept. 17, 1935 Bixby May 12, 1936 Lapsley Aug. 12, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date France May 5, 1931 

